Veale Wasbrough Vizards

Turnover (£m): 21.4
RPL (£k): 169

A year of consolidation at Veale Wasbrough Vizards saw turnover rise by 4.4 per cent to £21.4m following the 2009 merger between Veale Wasbrough and London firm Vizards Tweedie.

Average profit per equity partner came in at £250,000, a drop compared with 2009-10, with the equity ranging from £126,000 to £252,000. Most equity partners are near the top of the equity structure, which operates on a pure lockstep. Turnover was driven largely by the buoyant education department, which is advising on a number of academy conversions, benefiting particularly from the Vizards merger.

Veale embarked on a lateral hiring spree at the end of last year, with many of the new partners joining at the beginning of the current year and therefore not contributing to headline turnover.

The firm tweaked its management structure during the year to reduce the number of heads of department but give more prominence to the role.